The present invention relates generally to earth-grading machines, and more particularly to an automatic blade control system for dozers.
Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) sensors have been extensively used in the area of construction machine control, particularly in grading applications. Although a control system using only a GNSS sensor for positioning may result in appropriate grading quality in some types of machines, such as graders and scrapers, it has certain limitations in other types of machines, such as dozers. A combination of a GNSS sensor with a proportional controller, commonly found in dozer blade control systems, often results in specific wave-like patterns on the ground after grading, particularly at high dozer speeds. What are needed are method and apparatus for more precise control of grading operations by a dozer.